Income Taxes (Details) (USD $)	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2012		Dec. 31, 2011
Schedule of Collaborative Arrangements
Benefit from income taxes	$ (32,000)
Income taxes payable (Alios)	201,000	[1]	12,075,000	[1]
Deferred tax liability	241,426,000	[1]	243,707,000	[1]
U.S. federal net operating loss carryforwards			2,700,000,000
Total Vertex Shareholders' Equity
Schedule of Collaborative Arrangements
Benefit from income taxes	(2,300,000)
Alios BioPharma, Inc
Schedule of Collaborative Arrangements
Benefit from income taxes	2,280,000
Income taxes payable (Alios)	201,000		12,075,000
Deferred tax liability	$ 113,840,000		$ 116,121,000

[1] Amounts include the assets and liabilities of Vertex's variable interest entity ("VIE"), Alios BioPharma, Inc. ("Alios"). Vertex's interests and obligations with respect to the VIE's assets and liabilities are limited to those accorded to Vertex in its agreement with Alios. See Note C, "Collaborative Arrangements," to these condensed consolidated financial statements for amounts.